Here we’ll look at total of three different ways by which abstract nouns are formed using various types of English words and later we’ll have a look at some examples to better understand how formation works.
3 Ways of Formation Of Abstract Nouns
Abstract Nouns are generally formed from three types of words namely Common Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives by adding suffixes such as
-hood, -cy, -ism, -ship, -ment, -ice, –ness, -ter, -ty, -th, etc.
1. Abstract Nouns From Common Nouns :
If we add some special suffixes such as -cy, -ship, -hodd etc. to some common nouns we get the new form of noun i.e Abstract Noun.
| Common Noun | Abstract Nouns |
| boy | boyhood |
| infant | infancy |
| agent | agency |
| friend | friendship |
| slave | slavery |
| child | childhood |
| man | manhood |
| mother | motherhood |
2. Abstract Nouns From Verbs :
Abstract nouns can also be formed from verbs by using some special suffixes like -er, -th, etc. Have a look at the table and you will get point which we are talking about.
| Verbs | Abstract Nouns |
| laugh | laughter |
| thing | thought |
| obey | obedience |
| serve | service |
| please | pleasure |
| grow | growth |
| govern | government |
| do | deed |
| behave | behavior |
3. Abstract Nouns From Adjectives :
You know adjectives are used to describe special quality of a noun. Did you know that we can form a noun out of adjectives ?, Yes we can, by adding some suffixes to these adjectives.
Have a look at the following table and you’ll get the concept which we are talking about.
| Adjectives | Abstract Noun |
| kind | kindness |
| honest | honesty |
| poor | poverty |
| long | length |
| wide | width |
| young | youth |
| true | truth |
| wise | wisdom |
| happy | happiness |
| great | greatness |
I hope by now you have a clear understanding of how most of the abstract nouns are formed. All you have to do is practice a bit and keep doing that for a while and you’ll be good at it.